White Light at Phantom's 25th anniversary party

A spectacular party was held at London's Natural History Museum (photo: Dan Wooller)

1 November 2011

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light helped mark the 25th anniversary of the hit musical The Phantom Of The Opera, supplying the lighting to a spectacular party held at London's Natural History Museum after the sell-out anniversary concerts at the nearby Royal Albert Hall.

The concerts - produced by Cameron Mackintosh and the show's composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber - were organised to celebrate the phenomenal quarter-decade success of the show. Phantom has played over 10,000 performances at its original London home, Her Majesty's Theatre, has played in 27 countries around the world, has been seen by more than 130 millionpeople, and has a total worldwide gross in excess of $5.6bn. The three concerts featured an all-star cast, and were sold out both at the Albert Hall and at the many cinemas worldwide where the event was also shown.

The post-show party was organised by Sue Uings, who was the past head of marketing for Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, working now as an independent event planner. Uings chose to work once again with lighting designer Cy Dodimead to transform the party venue into a dramatic, enchanting space. As on many other projects, including the recent first night party for the Dirty Dancing tour which he also designed for Uings, Dodimead turned to White Light.

According to White Light's Richard Stirzaker "The load in for Phantom was more relaxed than for many of the other events we've been involved with at the Natural History Museum, since the show at the Albert Hall didn't finish until 10pm. We had a team of six who transformed the venue, in particular using our new Martin Mac III Profiles to create dramatic projections of the Phantom logo both outside and inside the Museum. It was fantastic to bring a theatrical show and feel to the Museum once again."

"Sue Uings and all involved with the show were over the moon with the lighting," comments Cy Dodimead, "and I certainly can't take all of the credit for it since it is a real team effort when working with White Light - the work they do behind the scenes to enable me to walk in on the day and make things look pretty is greatly appreciated, and Richard Stirzaker's knowledge and experienceof working in the Museum was a huge help. The result was a great evening, where everyone was talking about the lighting."

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